A Perfect Blurb

As I’ve been agonizing over blurbs lately, with the launch of Infinite Waters, I noticed with great interest a book by my friend, Celine Jeanjean. I consider it a great example of blurb and bio, so I thought I’d share with you. Besides, how could I not share such a gorgeous cover? It’s like a Renaissance steampunk painting!

The Viper and the Urchin

Being Damsport’s most elegant assassin is hard work. There’s tailoring to consider, devilish poisons to concoct, secret identities to maintain… But most importantly, Longinus has to keep his fear of blood hidden or his reputation will be ruined. So, when a scrawny urchin girl threatens to expose his phobia unless he teaches her swordsmanship, he has no choice but to comply.

It doesn’t take long for Rory to realise that her new trainer has more eccentricities than she has fleas. But she’ll put up with anything, no matter how frustrating, to become a swordswoman like her childhood hero.

What she’s not prepared for is a copycat assassin who seeks to replace Longinus, and who hires Rory’s old partner in crime to do away with her, as well. Rory and Longinus must set their differences aside and try to work together if they’re to stop the copycat. But darker forces than they realise are at play, and with time running out, the unlikely duo find themselves the last line of defence against a powerful enemy who seeks to bring Damsport to its knees.

Who is Celine Jeanjean?

Celine Jeanjean is French, grew up in the UK and now lives in Hong Kong. That makes her a tad confused about where she is from. During her time in Asia she’s watched the sun rise over Angkor Wat, lost her shoes in Vietnam, and fallen off a bamboo raft in China.

Celine writes stories that feature quirky characters and misfits, and her books are a mix of steampunk, mystery and humour.

If you leave a comment, not only will Perro the cat chase a mouse on his blanket, but I’ll also keep you up-to-date with my news and send you exclusive short stories as a 'thank-you'!

I’ve heard conflicting advice on blurb lengths: some people have said a shorter, snappier blurb would be better, but then longer blurbs tend to do better on Amazon since they can contain important keywords which helps readers find your book…

Anything on the Amazon book page gets picked up by the Amazon algorithm, including the blurb. It won’t function as keywords per se, in terms of getting a book in subcategories (nor will they carry as much weight as those keywords selected in the KDP dashboard) but it can apparently help in terms of your book coming in search results, or getting linked up to other books in similar genres.

I realised many people said that it wasn’t their genre. But that’s not an excuse. I think we should try. If someone says they don’t like peppers maybe they don’t like them prepared by their parents but would enjoy them if they dared to try a friends dish or the preparation of s great chef…

I like that analogy. It reminds me of the Game of Thrones phenomenon, when loads of people declared they didn’t like Fantasy and then got totally sucked into GoT. Stories crafted by masters like George RR Martin transcend genres — same as a great chef being able to overcome people’s prejudices against a particular item of food.

It’s something to consider. I’m going with the Windemere vampires once Legends is done, so that idea would have to be slipped somewhere else. I do have a female caster whose spells never go in the direction she expects them to. One of her allies is a paranoid dwarf who reveals or develops a new phobia every book/few chapters.

This is an excellent example of ‘just right’. The only thing that always irritates me is how well-travelled authors always claim to be (even when they are) and the quirky, exciting things they have seen and done. Not a criticism of Celine at all, as many are doing the same thing.
I would be happy if she had said that she was a housewife in Anjou. Losing shoes in Vietnam is no guarantee of good writing. Just a personal viewpoint of course, but it does seem to be becoming almost ‘compulsory’ for authors to add these asides.
Best wishes, Pete.

A blurb is a nightmare. I’m currently on my third incarnation for one of my books and resubmitting a couple of news ones. The best way to write a blurb I’ve encountered is to have somebody you trust read the book, then write a blurb of their own. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece but they tend to pick up on theme and thread with greater impartiality than we do. Break the friend’s account in to segments and apply a little polish, suddenly the blurb works 🙂

That’s a really neat idea! It’s hard to get enough distance from something you’ve written in order to be impartial. I might have to use that trick for my next book 🙂 Best of luck with your blurb by the way!

Recent Posts

Subscribe and Save

If you enjoy my work and are interested in more freebies and deals, why not subscribe to my newsletter? I hate spammers as much as you and only send an email once a month tops, always filled with news of genuine interest.Subscribers to my ARC list read everything I publish for free! Click here to subscribe >>

Let’s connect on Twitter!

Privacy/Affiliate Links

When you leave a comment, WordPress stores information like your name, email etc. This is not shared with third parties. Please read my Privacy Policy to find out how this may be used.This website includes affiliate links